It’s nice when staying the hell home gets “rewarded” with a badge.
“Congrats, nerd, you did a lot of drinking at home this year!”
The beer that put me over the top:
Wouldn’t you think this Modern Times & Humble Sea colab would be a Hazy IPA of some sort? Yeah me too.
Except it’s not. It’s a fucking Hazy Pilsner.
I don’t hate it or anything, just not what I was expecting and I think that was on purpose. Sneaky little bastards.
This Almanac Beer Co “Love Hazy IPA” is just 68 days old. It tastes way older than that.
It’s normally a good beer (I have had it before), a great brewer, it was stored cold (in the grocery store at least), so, even being a hazy, it should still taste fine.
It doesn’t. It tastes like it’s 6 to 7 months old. I think I am to blame.
I usually don’t have a hazy (or any pale or IPA really, past 30 days). This has ruined me for grocery shelf beer.
Under three months should totally be fine for any beer, but it isn’t for me. I am broke. It’s either start drinking older beers to re-calibrate my palate so I can enjoy beer that isn’t SUPER fresh. Or choose violence and exclusively drink super fresh beers.
I choose violence.
A PLEDGE!: If a hazy is past 31 days, I no longer will buy it.
If you have not seen an Ambient Review yet: It’s more about what I’m experiencing during the time it takes to drink the beer than what the actual beer tastes like.
Setup: I had boneless chicken wings (I can’t handle eating it off-the-bone) from Lazy Dog restaurant and a Diet Pepsi – yes I am a health nut.
Drinking Start Time: 10:00 PM
I open the beer and take a sip. On this occasion I am drinking from the can as The Alchemist basically demands. This is more about laziness and not wanting to get a glass than listening to the can’s demands.
First sip is strong. I feel like we forget Heady and Pliny are doubles. Maybe it’s just me that forgets.
I forgot to roll the can. I’m a believer in can rolling to mix a hazy up, I usually forget to do it though.
10:10ish: I am helping my daughter with getting one of our cats from her room to the outside. The cats are newish and our dog wants to eat them so we have to take measures to keep them separated.
10:15ish: Take another sip of my Heady. Watching Seinfeld. It’s the one where Elaine eats Petterman’s $2,900 cake. I’d buy Elaine any cake she wants – #crush.
This is also the episode with George and the Frogger machine and Jerry dates the Sentence Finisher.
10:30ish: Some more sips of the Heady. Then things get fuzzy as I fall asleep on the floor – sometimes the floor and a pillow is more comfortable than a chair.
11:11: I wake up to another episode of Seinfeld but I am not sure which one. My beer is warm now. I power through some gulps and mostly finish it because I would feel too much shame if I completely wasted a Topper.
Thanks for coming to this Ambient Review, look for more on this blog soon!
Just got done having El Segundo Brewing’s Blurred Lines IPA and I have something to say but…
I don’t review beers well. I think it takes talent or something. Plus, straight reviews are usually kinda boring anyway. That’s why I like to group some reviews together from people I like or people that sound like they know what the hell they’re talking about.
First, here is your basic info via Untappd:
Here are what some Untappd friends had to say, starting with Jason:
Then Robin:
Then Brian:
And how about some dude I don’t know:
As far as what I think, I bought this beer because I saw “Hybrid IPA” on the can and I’m like, “Oh, that is interesting.”
I like the beer. Heavy on the Centennial hops for sure, the Mosaic and Citra get lost a bit. I think it delivers on the hybrid claim because I get the West Coast clear vibes as strong as I get the hazy vibes.
Here is what Great Craft Brews thought:
Worth the try if you see it if you like things to get a little blurrrrry.
